Monday, 30 November 2015

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea involve both island and maritime claims among several sovereign states within the region, namely Brunei, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.There are disputes concerning both the Spratly and the Paracel islands, as well as maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Tonkin and elsewhere. There is a further dispute in the waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands. The interests of different nations include acquiring fishing areas around the two archipelagos; the potential exploitation of suspected crude oil and natural gas under the waters of various parts of the South China Sea; and the strategic control of important shipping lanes.Shangri-La Dialogue serves as the "Track One" exchange forum on the security issues surrounding Asia-Pacific region including Territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific is the "Track Two" dialogue on security issues of Asia-Pacific.read more

South China Sea disputes

Tensions in the South China Sea because of disputes with other claimants like the Philippines and Vietnam are leading to alarming headlines about possible conflict

China insists it is simply doing what all its neighbours are trying to do - but it is doing it at dizzying pace.

The US Department of Defense assesses that as of June 2015, China had reclaimed 17 times more land in 20 months in the South China Sea than all the other claimants combined over the past 40 years.

China's exact intentions remain unclear, but the overall assessment is that Beijing wants to slowly push the US out of the area without causing a conflict.

The U.S. military commander in the Pacific warned Friday that the risk of a miscalculation that could trigger a wider conflict in a tense territorial standoff between China and Vietnam is high and urged both nations to exercise restraint.

Adm. Samuel Locklear also urged Southeast Asian nations and China to hasten the drafting of a legally binding “code of conduct” to prevent territorial rifts from turning into armed conflicts that could threaten the region’s bustling economies.

Southeast Asian diplomats have accused China of delaying the start of negotiations for such a nonaggression pact while it tries to consolidate its control of disputed territories.

As part of a broader project of land reclamation, beginning in November China started efforts to develop Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands.

As of late November the reef had been built up to 3,000 meters long and between two and three hundred wide. This makes it large enough, in the assessment of analysts with IHS Jane’s and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, to argue that China’s first airstrip in the Spratly Islands might be under development. China already has a growing airfield on Woody Island in the Paracels a several hundred miles north, and this would not be the first airstrip in the Spratly Islands; Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia all have airstrips of their own.

If a runway is truly planned for Fiery Cross Reef, what does this mean for the region’s security environment?

The nine-dash line (highlighted in green) as formerly claimed by the PRC

The nine-dash line (Chinese: 南海九段线; pinyin: nánhǎi jiǔduàn xiàn; literally: "nine-segment line of the South China Sea"; Vietnamese: Đường lưỡi bò; literally: "cow's tongue line"), and at various times also referred to as the "10-dash line" and the "11-dash line", refers to the demarcation line used initially by the government of the Republic of China (ROC / Taiwan), and subsequently also by the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), for their claims of the major part of the South China Sea. The contested area in the South China Sea includes the Paracel Islands, the Spratly Islands, and various other areas including the Pratas Islands, the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal. The claim encompasses the area of Chinese land reclamation known as the "great wall of sand".An early map showing a U-shaped eleven-dash line was published in the then Republic of China on 1 December 1947. Two of the dashes in the Gulf of Tonkin were later removed at the behest of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, reducing the total to nine. Subsequent editions added a dash to the other end of the line, extending it into the East China Sea.Despite having made the vague claim public in 1947, China has not (as of 2015) filed a formal and specifically defined claim to the area within the dashes. The People's Republic of China added a tenth-dash line to the east of Taiwan island in 2013 as a part of its official sovereignty claim to the disputed territories in the South China Sea.readmoreCHINA’S NINE-DASHED LINE FACES RENEWED ASSAULT

China’s ambiguous claim to the South China Sea, approximately demarcated by a series of hash marks known as the “nine-dashed line,” faced objections from an expanding number of parties over the past two weeks. While a challenge from the United States came from an unsurprising source, actions by Indonesia and Vietnam were unexpected in their tone and timing.

On December 5th, the U.S. State Department released its analysis of the compatibility of China’s nine-dashed line with international law. The report attempted to set aside the issue of sovereignty and explore “several possible interpretations of the dashed-line claim and the extent to which those interpretations are consistent with the international law of the sea.” The analysis found that as a demarcation of claims to land features within the line and their conferred maritime territory, the least expansive interpretation, the claim is consistent with international law but reiterated that ultimate sovereignty is subject to resolution with the other claimants.

As a national boundary, the report went on, the line “would not have a proper legal basis under the law of the sea,” due to its unilateral nature and its inconsistent distance from land features that could confer maritime territory. Alternately, although many commentators have indicated China bases its claims on “historic” rights pre-dating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, the report argued that the history China points to does not fit the narrow “category of historic claims recognized” in UNCLOS under which historic rights may be conferred. Lastly, the report noted that as China has filed no formal claim supporting its nine-dashed line, the ambiguity over the exact nature and location of the line itself undermines under international law China’s argument that it possesses maritime rights to the circumscribed waters.

TWO Chinese oil companies show contrasting approaches in their attempts to operate in the South China Sea where, to the discomfort of its smaller neighbours, China’s claims in disputed waters have grown increasingly assertive. One company’s actions are adding to tensions in the area, while the other’s may hint at a way to ease them.

Last July Brightoil, a company listed in Hong Kong with high-level political connections on the mainland, bought the exploration rights to 6.2m acres (2.5m hectares) of seabed from an American company, Harvest Natural Resources. The block, which the Chinese call Wan’an Bei 21 (WAB-21, part of an area known in English as the Vanguard Bank), has a controversial history. Although it lies more than 650 nautical miles (about 1,200km) from the Chinese coast and just 200 nautical miles from Vietnam, China asserts “historic rights” over the area. It lies near the south-western edge of the U-shaped “nine-dash line” that marks Beijing’s ambiguous claim in the sea (see map).

China issued a licence to explore for oil in WAB-21 in 1992. That came as a shock, because it was the first time China had claimed resources in the South China Sea so far away from its own coast. When Chinese vessels attempted to survey the block in 1994, Vietnam sent its navy to stop them. Vietnam then dispatched an oil rig to drill there, and it was China’s turn to impose a blockade. Neither side was able to extract any oil.

China has unveiled plans to expand its naval power as part of an assertive military strategy that aims to go beyond its present push for "offshore defence" to "open-seas protection".

The defence ministry released a white paper on the plans yesterday, the same day that China broke ground on construction of two lighthouses in the disputed Spratly Islands.

Beijing said the lighthouses on Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef - sites of massive reclamation works - were "to improve navigation safety in the South China Sea". The reefs are also known as the Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef.

The Republic of the Philippines v The People’s Republic of China: A question of jurisdiction

The dispute in the South China Sea continues to be played out on the global stage with no resolution yet in sight. Tensions endure as the Philippines pursues its quest for arbitral resolution, whilst China continues to stake its claims in the area despite the ongoing litigation. Satellite photographs have been released in recent months of Chinese barges enlarging the size of reefs and islands, and the building of airstrips and harbours to accommodate jets and warships. This demonstrates China’s determination to assert its ownership of virtually the entire South China Sea.

The Philippines has challenged the basis of China’s territorial claims by way of arbitral proceedings, and lodged a Memorial in March 2014. The Arbitral Tribunal (for which the Permanent Court of Arbitration acts as a Registry) fixed 15 December 2014 as the date for China to submit a Counter-Memorial in response, however no such document has been forthcoming. The Chinese Government has previously stated in a Note Verbale that it will ‘neither accept nor participate in the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines.’ Article 287(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (LOSC), which both States are party to, requires States to select a preferred means of binding dispute resolution involving third parties, and if they fail to do so, arbitration under Annex VII becomes the default means – unless reservations have been made in writing with regard to optional exceptions (see below).

As China and the Philippines have not agreed on a binding mechanism, they are deemed to have selected arbitration unless the aforementioned exceptions apply. Article 9 of that Annex provides for default of appearance; namely if one of the parties fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the other party may request that the tribunal continue its proceedings and make an award. This may well be the approach of the Tribunal in this case, as China refuses to participate.

China noted that the purpose of the reclamation activities was for their military defense.

"The primary purpose of these activities is to improve the working and living conditions of personnel stationed there, to better fulfill our international obligations concerning maritime search and rescue, disaster prevention, and mitigation, and to enable China to provide better services to vessels from China, her neighbors, and other countries sailing in the South China Sea," China deputy representative to the United Nations Wang Min said.

Not minding calls from other countries to channel its claims through international court, China continues to expand reefs as a resolve to assert its entitlement to territories over nearly the entire South China Sea.

Aside from the Mischief Reef, China is also undertaking land reclamation on six other disputed areas in an area of the South China Sea, Spratlys Islands.

Foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the Mischief Reef “is a low tide elevation in the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines and on its continental shelf,” and is a rich fishing ground within the Philippine territory that came under Chinese control in 1995.

The Philippines says China is constructing an airstrip on reclaimed land at Johnson Reef in the Spratly Islands

The Philippines has protested against China's reclamation of land at a disputed reef in the South China Sea that can be used to build an airstrip.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Manila filed a diplomatic protest against the reclamation on the Johnson South Reef last month, but Beijing rejected it on grounds that the reef is part of Chinese territory.

Asked if China was building an airstrip on the reef, which is also claimed by Vietnam, Del Rosario said: "That's one possibility."

China has nearly completed the artificial island it is building to grab territory in the South China Sea

Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still file image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Nav ReutersThe Chinese government has nearly completed a 3km-long airstrip on a man-made island built to project military power into the South China Sea.New photos taken by US aircraft show dozens of Chinese dredging vessels at work near the island in the Spratly archipelago.The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington says that two helipads, ten satellite dishes, a Chinese Naval vessel and a radar tower are visible in the photo.readmore

China Begins Construction in Spratly Islands

China has begun a construction project in the disputed Spratly Islands, drawing a formal protest from the Philippines, which said the move violates a longstanding pledge not to build on any of the South China Sea's contested islands.

The project is the latest example of Beijing's increasingly assertive behavior in the South China Sea, a week after it boldly deployed a large oil rig, guarded by a flotilla of ships, to disputed waters east of Vietnam.

That action sparked anti-Chinese protests and violence against factories in Vietnam, and prompted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to criticize Beijing's "aggressive" and "provocative" moves.

It’s not just the Spratlys, China is constructing military facilities on the Paracel Islands too.

High-resolution satellite images from March 17 show that Woody Island, occupied by China since 1956, is undergoing a major expansion of its runway and airport facilities. Within the past five months, a 2,400-meter airstrip has been completely replaced with a new concrete runway measuring 2,920 meters in length, accompanied by a new taxiway, expanded runway aprons and adjacent large buildings under construction.

Additional land reclamation is also underway on Woody Island, called Yongxing Dao in Chinese and Đảo Phú Lâm in Vietnamese.

When China parked a giant oil rig in disputed waters off Vietnam, it confirmed what Washington and regional governments have long feared: Beijing is taking a major leap in the defense of its territorial claims, testing the resolve of rattled neighbors—as well as the U.S.

At the heart of the latest maneuvering for control in the South China Sea is China's most modern oil rig, deployed by a state-owned oil company off the contested Paracel Islands over the objections of Hanoi, whose coast guard has sought to obstruct the rig's work.

The standoff over the rig has built over several days, bursting into open conflict on Wednesday when Vietnamese officials said that about 80 Chinese vessels had moved into disputed areas near it and that six Vietnamese crew members had been injured in scuffles. Rear Adm. Ngo Ngoc Thu, vice commander of the Vietnamese coast guard, said Thursday that the situation at the site remains tense, with many ships still there.

China oil rig finishes first phase of drilling in waters claimed by Vietnam

A giant Chinese oil rig has finished its first round of drilling in South China Sea waters also claimed by Vietnam and moved to another site in the area, the rig's operator, China Oilfield Services Ltd (COSL), said on Tuesday. In a statement, COSL said exploration would still take place off the Xisha islands, China's name for the disputed Paracel chain, suggesting the rig was not moving far.

In early May, the rig was deployed between the Paracel islands and the Vietnamese coast, sparking deadly anti-China riots in Vietnam and protests from the government in Hanoi.

The rig had 'smoothly' completed the first phase of its work said COSL, the oil service arm of state-run China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) Group, which owns the $1 billion platform. COSL said it had obtained relevant geological data from the drilling, but did not give details or specify the current location of the rig.

Security minister posts pictures on Facebook of what he says is Chinese ship anchored in Malaysian zone

Malaysia will protest against what it called the intrusion of a Chinese Coast Guard ship into its waters north of Borneo Island, the Wall Street Journal reported, in another departure from the country’s previously soft approach to South China Sea disputes. National Security Minister Shahidan Kassim was quoted as telling the Journal that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will raise the issue directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The report comes after Shahidan posted pictures on Facebook of what he said was a Chinese ship anchored at Luconia Shoals, an area of islets and reefs about 150 km north of Malaysian Borneo.

The shoals are inside the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone claimed by Malaysia and about 2,000 km from mainland China, he said, adding that any foreign vessels entering the area were “intruders.”

Controversy Builds Over Spratly Islands As Indonesia Demands International TribunalIndonesia demanded an international tribunal Wednesday over China's expansionism in the South China Sea if the countries involved could not come to a diplomatic solution on their own. Several nations in the region, including Indonesia and China, as well as the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia, have made land claims of sovereignty over an area of the South China Sea that includes the Spratly Islands.The 750 spits of lands that make up the Spratly Islands are small and relatively uninhabited. But their strategic location in the middle of several major trade routes, as well as the possibility of their containing oil or other minerals, have made the islands an extremely valuable commodity.Indonesia's primary dispute with China in the South China Sea is over the so-called nine-dash line, a boundary that China has used to demarcate its territory in the region. Part of the Indonesian-ruled Natuna islands may be within the territory China has designated as its own, and Indonesian authorities asked for clarification.read moreChina-Indonesia Territorial Dispute: Chinese South China Sea Occupation Is A "Real Threat"

A police coast guard vessel patrols the shipping lanes off the coast of Singapore, March 4, 2010. Reuters/Vivek Prakash

Indonesia has labeled Chinese claims to the hotly disputed South China Sea waters as a "real threat." Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, who heads Indonesia's Sea Security Coordinating Agency, told a maritime security focus group that the waters surrounding several of the country’s islands were in jeopardy from an encroaching Chinese presence.The Jakarta Post reported the maritime areas surrounding the Natuna Islands on the southern part of the Strait of Malacca technically do not lie within China’s proposed territorial claims thus far, but it added China has not clarified its position on Indonesia’s exclusive economic maritime zone. The Strait of Malacca is recognized as a prime strategic location, particularly for military observance of the South China waters.“This is clearly a real threat for Indonesia,” said Desi, who is also a dean at the Defense University. Desi said Indonesia would need to prepare for moves China may make to further expand its claims in the area.

Indonesia has been warned that the territorial conflict over the South China Sea is a real threat that will sooner or later impact this country.Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, conveyed the warning during the opening session of a focus group discussion on maritime security early warning systems held in Batam, the Riau Islands province, earlier this month.He said that the Indonesian waters around the Natuna Islands (Kepri) regency were not actually inside in the disputed territory, but they were very close to the area and China had not yet clarified whatever claims it would make regarding Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone (ZEE) around them.

Filipino protestors carry signs decrying U.S. and Chinese South China Sea claims during a June 12 march on the Chinese consulate in Makati, Philippines. (DONDI TAWATAO/Getty Images) (DONDI TAWATAO/Getty Images)For months, Beijing and Washington have been engaged in a mounting rhetorical war over Chinese territorial claims — and island building — in contested waters of the South China Sea. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has cautioned the U.S. military not to exacerbate tension in the South China Sea by sailing naval vessels or flying aircraft near Chinese-held islands, many of which are located in waters also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. The Pentagon has countered that U.S. ships and aircraft will travel along any routes allowed by international law at any time and has told regional allies that it will soon conduct patrols near Chinese positions.Though this standoff might seem like simple nationalist posturing between two Pacific powers, maritime disputes carry a special significance in Asia. Unlike in Europe, water is the organizing element of the continent, which wraps around the East and South China Seas, the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, as well as countless peripheral lagoons and bays.Ownership of a particular island, reef or rock, and the right to name a body of water is more than a question of sentimentality — it is the foundation of many national policy strategies. Securing the right to patrol, build bases and regulate trade through these waterways can mean access to resources critical to sustaining economic growth and political stability.read more

New South China Sea Lighthouses: Legal Futility and Strategic Risk

What is the significance of the lighthouses China has built in the Spratly Islands?International law can be viewed as either a tool or a weapon, depending on how it is wielded. On the one hand, the rules of international law outlining the range of legitimate territorial and maritime claims can provide an invaluable toolbox of objective standards for sorting out a way forward in what can often be a complex problem of international relations. On the other, a misinterpretation or partial understanding of the applicable international law can obfuscate the intentions of the rival claimants and further complicate the overall situation. In some ways, a partial understanding of the applicable law might be more harmful than no knowledge at all.For the unresolved disputes in the South China Sea, one issue worth considering is the potential significance of the new lighthouses that China has constructed on several geographic features within the Spratly Islands. The recent “China’s Lighthouses in the Spratlys” commentary by Lin Ting-Hui of Taiwan is an example of how a misinterpretation or a partial understanding of the applicable law can obfuscate more than it illuminates. This includes both the international law of the sea, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the customary international law relating to sovereignty claims. Below is an attempt to outline the limited legal significance of those new lighthouses, and a strategic risk arising from their construction.read moreChina's lighthouses in Spratlys beckon recognition from passing ships

The Huayang Lighthouse is pictured during an inauguration ceremony in the South China Sea, in this picture released by China's official Xinhua News Agency dated October 9, 2015The next time the United States sends warships by China’s man-made islands in the disputed South China, officers aboard will have to decide how, if at all, they will engage with a pair of giant lighthouses that Beijing lit up there this month.Chinese officials say the lighthouses on Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef in the disputed Spratly islands will help maritime search and rescue, navigational security and disaster relief.Experts, diplomats and foreign naval officers say, however, the lighthouses represent a shrewd move to help buttress China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.related: China completes construction of lighthouses in disputed South China Searead moreChina Inaugurates 2 New Lighthouses in South China Sea

Just days after a recent showdown between the Chinese and US navies in the South China Sea, China started construction on two new lighthouses in the contested territory.Reuters reports that the lighthouse openings were televised on state television. The ostensible purpose of the lighthouses is to help disaster relief, search and rescue, and environmental protection. The Chinese also say the lighthouses are important to protect commercial vessels and international shipping.The United States and other nations in the vicinity of the South China Sea such as Vietnam and the Philippines view the lighthouses as another example of aggressive Chinese posturing and land claims.read moreChina’s Lighthouses in the SpratlysIn May 2015, China began construction of lighthouses on two of the features it occupies in the Spratlys, Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef. The lighthouses, employing cylindrical and cone-cylindrical designs, respectively, are 50-meter-high towers constructed of reinforced concrete that officially began operation on October 9. Each tower has been designed to cast its white light out to a distance of 22 nautical miles on an eight-second cycle and has a 4.5-meter lantern on its uppermost level. During a press conference the day after formal operation commenced, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying stated that China would continue to construct other civilian and public facilities on relevant features in the Spratlys so as to better serve coastal nations in the South China Sea and passing vessels from around the world. Official statements clearly indicate the primary aim of erecting these lighthouses is to further navigational safety, but then why is it that China is constructing approximately 3,000-meter-long runways on Fiery Cross, Subi, and Mischief Reefs while choosing to instead erect lighthouses on Cuarteron and Johnson South Reefs?The Significance of Lighthouses in UNCLOS - A review of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provisions for using straight baselines to determine the limits of the territorial sea shows that when selecting base points, in accordance with Article 7, Paragraph 4, “Straight baselines shall not be drawn to and from low-tide elevations, unless lighthouses or similar installations which are permanently above sea level have been built on them or except in instances where the drawing of baselines to and from such elevations has received general international recognition.” In establishing baselines for archipelagic states, Article 47, Paragraph 4 stipulates, “Such baselines shall not be drawn to and from low-tide elevations, unless lighthouses or similar installations which are permanently above sea level have been built on them or where a low-tide elevation is situated wholly or partly at a distance not exceeding the breadth of the territorial sea from the nearest island.”In other words, for countries in general and archipelagic states in particular, it is only through construction of a lighthouse above sea level that can allow low-tide elevations, on which these structures are erected, to be considered as starting or ending points of a baseline. Therefore, there is no need for China to rely on the construction of lighthouses on Cuarteron and Johnson South to establish its baseline. As such, China’s construction in the Spratlys cannot simply be a matter of delimiting its territorial sea. read morePHL protests Chinese lighthouses in disputed South China Sea featuresThe Philippines on Monday issued a public statement protesting China’s unilateral construction and operation of lighthouses in two South China Sea reefs, which Manila says is part of its territory."We are strongly opposed to China's construction and operation of lighthouses on Cuarteron Reef and Johnson Reef,” Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said.Refusing to recognize Chinese sovereignty over the said features, Jose said “these actions are obviously intended to change the actual conditions on the ground and aimed at bolstering China's territorial claim in the South China Sea.”read more

China Spooks Neighbors in South China Sea With LighthousesLighthouses have for centuries guided the world’s seafarers, preventing ships from striking rocks and reefs and helping fishermen find their way home. In the disputed South China Sea, they may be taking on a darker role.China’s program to build beacons on reclaimed reefs it occupies in the waters -- through which about 30 percent of global trade passes -- is spooking other claimant countries concerned it will use them as political tools. Having lighthouses perched on top of the reefs, ostensibly to help navigation in the waters, could boost China’s argument for sovereignty.The country is expediting construction, having built two lighthouses in the Paracel islands and two in the Spratly archipelago as of October. They are part of an array of civilian facilities that China says will serve the public good by providing bases for search and rescue operations and meteorological information.read moreStart of Operation of Huayang and Chigua LighthousesChina held a ceremony marking the start of operation of two lighthouses on Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef of the Nansha Islands. Can you give more details?We have learned from the relevant department that the construction of lighthouses on Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef of the Nansha Islands has completed as scheduled and a lighting ceremony was held yesterday marking the start of operation. In accordance with China's Maritime Traffic Safety Law and international practices, the relevant department in China has issued a navigation notice and a navigation warning concerning the start of functioning of Huayang and Chigua Lighthouses.The South China Sea is an important maritime corridor, as well as one of the world's major fishing grounds, with high density of vessels and complex sea conditions. Marine traffic accidents occur from time to time. The two lighthouses will provide highly effective route guidance and navigation aid to vessels passing these waters, and greatly improve navigation safety in the South China Sea. In the future, China will continue to build other civil facilities for the public interest on the stationed islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands so as to provide littoral countries and all passing vessels with better services.related: Sansha Paradise Islands can build two wind 17 lighthousesreadmoreChina military keeping tabs on US Poseidon deployment in Singapore

A U.S. Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft at Perth International Airport March 31, 2014. Reuters file photoChina’s military is closely watching an agreement between the United States and Singapore to deploy the US P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane to the city state and hopes the move does not harm regional stability, said the ­Defence Ministry. “We are paying close attention to how the relevant situation develops, and hope ­bilateral defence cooperation between the relevant countries is beneficial to ­regional peace and stability and not the opposite,” said the Ministry in a brief statement.The Foreign Ministry of China, which is at odds with Washington over Beijing’s reclamation activities in the South China Sea, said the ­deployment was aimed at militarising the region and was detrimental to ­regional peace. However, analysts ­TODAY spoke with noted that the move is ­unlikely to significantly affect US-China or Singapore-China ties.In a joint statement after a meeting this week in Washington, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Singa­pore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen welcomed the inaugural deployment of the aircraft in Singapore from Dec 7 to 14. A US defence official has said further deployments in Singapore could be expected.readmoreChina says freedom of navigation ‘should not be used as excuse to flex muscle’The Chinese Embassy in Washington, responding on Monday to a US plan to sail within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands China has built in the South China islands, said the concept of freedom of navigation should not be used as excuse for muscle-flexing.Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said the United States should "refrain from saying or doing anything provocative and act responsibly in maintaining regional peace and stability.""Freedom of navigation and overflight should not be used as excuse to flex muscle and undermine other countries' sovereignty and security," he said

South China Sea ruling 'null and void', says ministryThe Foreign Ministry on Friday dismissed a ruling by the Arbitral Tribunal on the jurisdiction and admissibility of the South China Sea issue, saying it is null and void.The ministry said in a statement released on its website that the result has no binding effect on China."The result of the ruling will by no means affect China's sovereignty and rights on the South China Sea," Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said on Friday at a media briefing.read moreBeijing won't accept Hague court's ruling on arbitrationChina has rejected an international court's decision to allow arbitration on South China Sea claims brought forth by the Philippines, saying it is "null and void, and has no binding effect on China".The Foreign Ministry, in a statement yesterday, stressed that when it comes to issues of territorial sovereignty and maritime rights, Beijing will not accept any solution imposed on it, or any unilateral resort to a third-party dispute settlement.It also accused Manila of political provocation and of trying to "negate China's territorial sovereignty".read moreIn blow for Beijing, court to hear South China Sea disputeChina has lost the first round of a major legal fight with the Philippines after an international tribunal agreed to hear a case about contested islands in the South China Sea.The ruling early yesterday was seen as a legal setback for Beijing, after Manila filed the case in 2013 to seek a ruling on its right to exploit the South China Sea waters in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone as allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).But China, facing international legal scrutiny for the first time over its assertiveness in the disputed waters, reiterated yesterday that it will neither participate in nor accept the case, Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters.read moreTribunal rules it can arbitrate in South China Sea dispute

A satellite image of Subi Reef in the Spratlys. Manila is accusing Beijing of violating international laws by claiming areas that are 1,611km from its borders.PHOTO: REUTERSAn international tribunal has ruled that it has the power to hear the Philippines' case against China's claims over nearly all of the South China Sea, a move analysts say will likely force Beijing to dig in deeper instead of sitting down to talk.In a ruling released late on Thursday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague determined that it has jurisdiction over seven issues that Manila raised in a 4,000-page plea it submitted in March last year.Reviewing the claims submitted by the Philippines, the tribunal has rejected China's argument that the "dispute is actually about sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and therefore beyond the tribunal's jurisdiction", the five-man tribunal said in a nine-page summary of its ruling.read more

Is the South China Sea Worth War?

USS Lassen conducts exercises with Korean and Turkish navy ships. U.S. Navy photo by Naval Air Crewman (Helicopter) 2nd Class Evan Kenny/ReleasedTrailed by two Chinese warships, the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed inside the 12-nautical-mile limit of Subi Reef, a man-made island China claims as her national territory. Beijing protested. Says China: Subi Reef and the Spratly Island chain, in a South China Sea that carries half of the world’s seaborne trade, are as much ours as the Aleutians are yours.Beijing’s claim to the Spratlys is being contested by Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan. While Hanoi and Manila have occupied islets and built structures to back their claims, the Chinese have been more aggressive. They have occupied rocks and reefs with troops, dredged and expanded them into artificial islands, fortified them, put up radars, and are building air strips and harbors.What the Chinese are about is easy to understand. Having feasted and grown fat on trade surpluses with the United States, the Chinese are translating their economic strength into military power and a new strategic assertiveness. They want to dominate East Asia and all the seas around it.read more

Tension in disputed South China Sea

The USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, sailed past one of China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/APBarack Obama’s decision to send a US guided missile destroyer into disputed waters off the Spratly islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday has provoked predictable outpourings of rage and veiled threats from Beijing – but nothing, yet, in the way of a military response. The worry now is that the confrontation will catch fire, escalate and spread.Both China, which claims the Spratlys as its own, and the US, which does not recognise Beijing’s sovereignty, have boxed themselves into a rhetorical and tactical corner. With the Pentagon insisting it will repeat and extend such naval patrols at will, and with the People’s Liberation Army Navy determined to stop them, it is feared a head-on collision cannot be far away.China’s heated response to Tuesday’s manoeuvre by the USS Lassen off the Spratlys’ Mischief and Subi reefs, where Beijing is controversially building military airstrips and lighthouses on reclaimed land, left it little wiggle room. The American warship had been tracked and warned off, officials said, adding that what it termed an illegal incursion was a “threat to national sovereignty” and a deliberate provocation that could backfire.read moreTensions Running High In South China Sea

Two incidents over disputed territory in the South China Sea this week threaten to disrupt the tense status quo between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors.In Vietnam, China's dispatch of a state-owned oil rig into waters close to Vietnam sparked a face-off between Chinese and Vietnamese ships and anti-China protests. In the Philippines, China is protesting the detention of a Chinese fishing boat filled with illegal sea turtles and the arrest of its crew.While the region has been home to competing territorial claims for centuries, increasingly assertive action by both China and its neighbors has raised concerns that more serious conflict could erupt.read more

East China Sea EEZ disputesThere are disputes between the People's Republic of China (PRC), Japan, and South Korea over the extent of their respective exclusive economic zonesThe dispute between the PRC and Japan concerns the different application of the 1982 UNCLOS, which both nations have ratified. China proposed the application of UNCLOS, considering the natural prolongation of its continental shelf, advocating that the EEZ extends as far as the Okinawa Trough. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that "the natural prolongation of the continental shelf of China in the East China Sea extends to the Okinawa Trough and beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of China is measured," which is applicable to the relevant UNCLOS provisions that support China's right to the natural shelf. In 2012, China presented a submission under the UNCLOS concerning the outer limits of the continental shelf to the UN. Japan, based on UNCLOS, proposed the Median line division of the EEZ.Under the United Nations' Law of the Sea, the PRC claims the disputed ocean territory as its own Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) due to its being part of PRC's natural extension of its continental shelf, while Japan claims the disputed ocean territory as its own EEZ because it is within 200 nautical miles (370 km) from Japan's coast, and proposed a median line as the boundary between the EEZ of China and Japan. About 40,000 square kilometers of EEZ are in dispute. China and Japan both claim 200 nautical miles EEZ rights, but the East China Sea width is only 360 nautical miles. China claims an EEZ extending to the eastern end of the Chinese continental shelf (based on UNCLOS III) which goes deep into the Japanese's claimed EEZ.In 1995, the People's Republic of China (PRC) discovered an undersea natural gas field in the East China Sea, namely the Chunxiao gas field, which lies within the Chinese EEZ while Japan believes it is connected to other possible reserves beyond the median line. Japan has objected to PRC development of natural gas resources in the East China Sea near an area where the two countries Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) claims overlap. The specific development in dispute is the PRC's drilling in the Chunxiao gas field, which is located in undisputed areas on China's side, three or four miles (6 km) west of the median line proposed by Japan. Japan maintains that although the Chunxiao gas field rigs are on the PRC side of a median line that Tokyo regards as the two sides' sea boundary, they may tap into a field that stretches underground into the disputed area. Japan therefore seeks a share in the natural gas resources. The gas fields in the Xihu Sag area in the East China Sea (Canxue, Baoyunting, Chunxiao, Duanqiao, Wuyunting, and Tianwaitian) are estimated to hold proven reserves of 364 BCF of natural gas. Commercial operations began 2006. In June 2008, both sides agreed to jointly develop the Chunxiao gas fields. Rounds of disputes about island ownership in the East China Sea have triggered both official and civilian protests between China and Japan.The dispute between PRC and South Korea concerns Socotra Rock, a submerged reef on which South Korea has constructed a scientific research station. While neither country claims the rock as territory, the PRC has objected to Korean activities there as a breach of its EEZ rightsread moreTensions rise over East China Sea

A Chinese SU-27 fighter flying over the East China Sea in this photo taken on May 24, 2014 and released by the Defence Ministry of Japan on May 25, 2014. Photo: ReutersJapan and China yesterday accused each other’s air forces of dangerous behaviour over the East China Sea, with Japan saying Chinese aircraft had come within a few dozen metres of its warplanes.Japan’s Defence Minister accused Beijing of going “over the top” in its approach to disputed territory.China’s Defence Ministry said Japanese planes had carried out dangerous actions during its joint maritime exercises with Russia.related:China, Japan exchange barbs over action by warplanes in East China SeaJapan condemns China fishing curbs, vows to defend islandsread moreIn the East China Sea, a Far Bigger Test of Power Looms

In an era when the Obama administration has been focused on new forms of conflict - as countries use cyberweapons and drones to extend their power - the dangerous contest suddenly erupting over a pile of rocks in the East China Sea seems almost a throwback to the Cold War.

Suddenly, naval assets and air patrols are the currency of a shadow conflict between Washington and Beijing that the Obama administration increasingly fears could escalate and that American officials have said could derail their complex plan to manage China’s rise without overtly trying to contain it. As in the Cold War,the immediate territorial dispute seems to be an excuse for a far larger question of who will exercise influence over a vast region.

The A to Z on China’s Air Defense Identification ZoneComputer screens display a map showing the outline of China’s new air defense zone in the East China Sea on the website of the Chinese Ministry of Defense.Associated PressAIRSPACE – Under international law, a country’s sovereign airspace extends to the outer limits of its territorial waters, 12 nautical miles from its coastline. Most countries require all foreign military aircraft to obtain permission to enter their airspace and reserve the right to take military action, including shooting them down, if they do not. China and Japan both claim the disputed East China Sea islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China as part of their territory. They also claim sovereign airspace above them and over the waters extending 12 nautical miles around them.EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE (EEZ) – According to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, each signatory state can claim an EEZ that gives it special rights to exploit marine resources up to 200 nautical miles from its coastline. When EEZs overlap, signatory states are supposed to negotiate an agreed boundary. Most countries allow freedom of passage for foreign vessels through their EEZ. However, some countries disagree on whether non-aggressive foreign military operations – such as reconnaissance patrols — should be allowed in their EEZ. The U.S. says yes; China says no. China often intercepts and tracks foreign military planes over its EEZ, but usually does not try to repel them or force them to land.AIR DEFENSE IDENTIFICATION ZONE (ADIZ) – An ADIZ has no basis in international law and is not overseen by any international organization. So definitions and rules vary between different countries. Typically such zones extend well beyond a country’s airspace to give its military time to respond to potentially hostile incoming aircraft. Several countries have declared them unilaterally, including the U.S. and Japan. Many of those countries require foreign military aircraft to identify themselves and their flight plans on entering their ADIZ. They will often intercept and escort foreign military aircraft in their ADIZ but will usually not repel them or force them to land unless they consider them a threat. The U.S. says it only applies ADIZ procedures to foreign aircraft intending to enter its airspace. China’s ADIZ is unusual in that it overlaps with Japan’s, South Korea’s and Taiwan’s and covers disputed territory.

read moreChina should seize opportunity to reshape South China Sea order

After a series of visits by leaders of ASEAN states to China, China and ASEAN have found common agreement to prioritize economic cooperation and move forward. A golden opportunity has emerged: It is high time for China and its rival claimants in ASEAN to make major progress in the South China Sea disputes.

It's reported that officials and scholars from countries related to the South China Sea issue have met recently to discuss trust-building mechanisms, including nailing down the Code of Conduct, reshaping South China Sea order and the feasibility of joint cooperation on areas including anti-terror, climate change and protecting biodiversity.

US President-elect Trump's aggressive posturing against China has generated a lot of uncertainties in many respects, South China Sea disputes included, which have just quieted down after the tricky and stormy international arbitration process in July.

Countries outside South China Sea should not flare up regional tensionNow an increasingly serious menace to South China Sea stability is interference from the outside. For example, Washington's so-called "rebalance to the Asia-Pacific" strategy played an undeniable role in emboldening certain claimants to make hot-headed moves on the issue, which served only to further complicate and protract it.Therefore, for the South China Sea disputes to be untangled as soon as possible and for the busy patch of water to keep permanently peaceful, outsiders should withdraw their meddling hands and give full play to the wisdom and pragmatism of those directly involved.In parallel, ASEAN members need to keep their heads cool and eyes open. They should join hands with China in preventing the South China Sea issue from being used by others as a stir stick to muddy the waters and fish for self-interests.read moreUS is bringing storms to South China SeaThe 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting starts in Manila, the Philippines on Wednesday. The suspense is to what extent the US will foist the South China Sea disputes into this economic and trade meeting. Manila has made clear that territorial disputes will not be included on the agenda, but Washington is not resigned to letting it go, but apparently will bring forth the issue on the sidelines of the meeting.Compared with the horrible terror clouding Europe, the bone of contention in the APEC meeting - the South China Sea disputes - is unworthy of equal attention. France has shut its borders, and several European countries and half of US states are considering whether to shun Syrian refugees. Chaos and turbulence caused by relentless wars continue in the Middle East, and with the path of fleeing blocked, hatred and resentment among the refugees will thrive.Many believe the US should assume the primary responsibility for the turmoil in Europe. The US has managed to keep terrorism away from of its own turf after rounds of strong interventions in the Middle East with the aid of its European allies after the 9/11 attacks. However, unable to extend their reach to American soil, terrorists have sabotaged Europe time and again, from Madrid to London and recently, Paris.read moreUS manoeuvre in South China Sea leaves little wiggle room with China

The USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, sailed past one of China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/APBarack Obama’s decision to send a US guided missile destroyer into disputed waters off the Spratly islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday has provoked predictable outpourings of rage and veiled threats from Beijing – but nothing, yet, in the way of a military response. The worry now is that the confrontation will catch fire, escalate and spread.Both China, which claims the Spratlys as its own, and the US, which does not recognise Beijing’s sovereignty, have boxed themselves into a rhetorical and tactical corner. With the Pentagon insisting it will repeat and extend such naval patrols at will, and with the People’s Liberation Army Navy determined to stop them, it is feared a head-on collision cannot be far away.China’s heated response to Tuesday’s manoeuvre by the USS Lassen off the Spratlys’ Mischief and Subi reefs, where Beijing is controversially building military airstrips and lighthouses on reclaimed land, left it little wiggle room. The American warship had been tracked and warned off, officials said, adding that what it termed an illegal incursion was a “threat to national sovereignty” and a deliberate provocation that could backfire.read moreUS B-52 bombers challenge disputed China air zoneThe islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the two nations. Photo credit: Global Times

The USS Ronald Reagan arrived at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, on Thursday, becoming the only forward-deployed aircraft carrier in the U.S. NavyYOKOSUKA -- The USS Ronald Reagan arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, Thursday, replacing the USS George Washington. With a crew of 5,000 and up to 90 aircraft on board, the largest vessel in the U.S. Navy will be able to reach hot spots such as the South China Sea or North Korea weeks earlier than if it were based on the U.S. west coast.The move makes the Ronald Reagan the Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier. It will be the fifth carrier to be based in Japan, following the USS Midway, USS Independence, USS Kitty Hawk and George Washington. "We have had a carrier here continuously for 42 years. The critical importance of the carrier being here, both the substance and the symbolism, cannot be overstated," said Ray Mabus, the U.S. secretary of the Navy, who attended the arrival ceremony.The carrier will be accompanied in Yokosuka by the flagship of the 7th Fleet, USS Blue Ridge, as well as 10 other escort ships equipped with the AEGIS radar system. The Navy plans to forward deploy another two escort ships by 2017, bringing the total presence in Yokosuka to 14 vessels.related:US-China friction set to drag on as Beijing flexes military muscleChina military buildup: Think tank warns of threat to US forces in AsiaSouth China Sea: Is one warship enough?read more

US backs Japan as China tensions soar on air zone

Beijing's defence ministry has set up an air defence identification zone over the East China Sea to guard against potential air threats, a move that has fuelled tensions with Japan. (Image: @XHNews/Twitter)

The United States on Monday joined ally Japan in vowing not to recognise China's declaration of an air defence zone over much of the East China Sea, a move that has sharply escalated tensions.China and Japan each summoned the other's ambassador after Beijing said on Saturday it had established an Air Defence Identification Zone -- which would require aircraft to obey its orders -- over an area that includes islands administered by Japan.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has vowed no compromise on sovereignty issues, called on China to "restrain itself" over the move, which put Tokyo's conservative government in rare unison with South Korea and Taiwan. "I am strongly concerned as it is a profoundly dangerous act that may cause unintended consequences," Abe told parliamentread more

US, Japan push for mention of South China Sea in defence forum statement

The United States and Japan are pushing to get concerns about the South China Sea included in a statement to be issued after regional defence talks in Malaysia despite Chinese objections to any mention of the disputed waterway, officials said.

A senior U.S. defence official said Beijing had made clear as early as February that it didn't want the South China Sea discussed at the meeting between Southeast Asian defence ministers and their counterparts from across the Asia-Pacific in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

"We've been very clear along with many other like minded countries that South China Sea language should be included but there are members who feel differently," said the U.S. defence official, adding China was the main obstacle.

Long-held American plans to build a new military base in a remote part of Japan are being fiercely resisted by the people of Okinawa and their governor Takeshi Onaga. On October 13, 2015, Onaga exercised his right as governor to revoke a permit the US military needs to build the new base, effectively putting an end to base construction.

The move by the governor of Okinawa to block the base came after Onaga spoke at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva before a large number of Japanese journalists and observers on September 21 about Okinawans’ opposition to the plan.

It was the first time a Japanese prefectural governor had ever addressed that council, and happened shortly after a UN official had admonished Japan for human rights violations in Okinawa itself.

The United States has raised its military aid to the Philippines this year to $79 million, the US ambassador said on Wednesday, as tension rises in the region over China's new assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Since 2002, the United States has provided the Philippines with nearly $500 million in military assistance as well as various types of military equipment.

"We have upped our foreign military funding for the Philippines," Ambassador Philip Goldberg told ANC television, without giving a percentage. "It will be somewhere in the range of $79 million this year. It's increasing and what has been proposed is something called a maritime security initiative in the region."

US to Give Two Additional Ships to Philippine Navy to Boost Border Control

With an eye towards China, US President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced that the United States will transfer two ships to the Philippine navy to help it navigate and patrol its territorial waters.

Obama said the ships – one US Coast Guard cutter, one research vessel – were part of a broader American plan to scale up assistance to naval forces in Southeast Asia, the Associated Press reported. While the president never mentioned China by name, it is clear that the transfer comes in response to China's moves to assert control in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Obama said the United States had an "ironclad commitment" to the Philippines and a mutual commitment to free and safe navigation at sea. "More capable navies, in partnership with the United States, are critical to the security of this region," Obama said.

After being kicked out 20 years ago, the US Navy has returned to the base at Subic Bay, Philippines, where American military personnel are being welcomed in the wake of Chinese assertiveness in the region.

The US Navy began using the base last year after the United States and the Philippines came to terms on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. The deal grew from concern in the Philippines about China’s growing presence in the South China Sea.

Some 6,000 US personnel came to Subic in April, and are set to return for exercises in 2016 in agreement with Philippine authorities, the Christian Science Monitor reported. US ships are using Subic Bay as a resupply port, and American merchant marine ships docked there in late October.

If recent developments are anything to judge by, neither the United States nor China will reconsider their positions on the South China Sea issue anytime soon. Beijing continues to hold by its argument that China’s claims regarding the South China Sea are historically legitimate and Washington maintains that it will take any action necessary to ensure that freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is not compromised

Tensions In The South China Sea Continue To Simmer - China has laid claim to most of the energy-rich South China Sea in competition with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. As much as $5 trillion worth of trade is conducted via the South China Sea annually and it is understood that influence over the sea’s waters will allow the controlling party unprecedented power of global markets and state economies.

To prop up their territorial claims in the South China Sea, the disputants have taken to constructing artificial islands and reclaiming land as a means of adding actual physical territory to the regions they have claimed. It is worth noting that in the last two years China has claimed more territory alone than all the other disputants have done in total over the last forty years. That China is decidedly more assertive about its position on the South China Sea as compared to the other claimants is an opinion that has been covered extensively in the world media.

This realization has caused most of the international community- even states not directly involved in the dispute– to express concern that the geopolitical disagreement is quickly moving towards an armed confrontation. The United States has repeatedly voiced concerns over China’s increasing aggressiveness in the South China Sea, calling on Beijing to halt its land reclamation and island-building projects in favor of a more diplomatically acceptable solution.

TOKYO -- Even as East Asian economies become increasingly integrated, fault lines are spreading throughout the region over competing sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.

The potential for lasting divisions is mounting as countries are forced to side with either the U.S. or China over the maritime disputes.

Politicians and government officials who have attended meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama mostly say he assesses human relationships as if they were something that could be measured on a balance sheet and prioritizes business over friendship. In other words, they say he is a pragmatist through and through.

Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015. REUTERS/U.S. NAVY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

China has shown "great restraint" in the South China Sea by not seizing islands occupied by other countries even though it could have, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday ahead of two regional summits where the disputed waterway is likely to be a hot topic. Beijing has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

Reclamation work and the building of three airfields and other facilities on some of China's artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago have alarmed the region and raised concern in Washington that China is extending its military reach deep into maritime Southeast Asia.

But China was the real victim as it had "dozens" of its islands and reefs in the Spratlys illegally occupied by three of the claimants, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a news conference in Beijing.

China’s premier has called on South-east Asian nations to set aside their differences as tensions rise over the disputed South China Sea islands, state news agency Xinhua reported late yesterday (Nov 21)

At a meeting with the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, US President Barack Obama called on countries to stop building artificial islands and militarising their claims in the South China Sea.

The United States has sent military ships and war planes by China’s artificial islands in recent weeks to assert its “freedom of navigation” in the sea. Premier Li said some countries outside the region are conducting a high-profile intervention.

“That is in nobody’s interest,” Mr Li said. “Only by expanding our common interests and seeking common ground can we narrow our differences,” Mr Li added.

China said on Sunday that the United States (US) was making political provocations with its patrols in the disputed South China Sea, as tensions around the strategic waterways mount.

China will continue to construct military facilities on artificial islands it is building, Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur. The facilities are needed to protect the islands, he said.

Washington was testing Beijing with its insistence on "freedom of navigation" in the strategic waterway, he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned the U.S. not to "make trouble out of nothing" in the South China Sea on Tuesday.

Wang made the remarks during a seminar in Beijing when responding to a question on the U.S. Navy's intention of sending a warship within 12 nautical miles of China's islands in the sea.

"We are checking out the matter," said the foreign minister. "If it is true, we advise the U.S. to think twice before its action," he said, urging them "not to act in an imprudent way and not to make trouble out of nothing."

On Tuesday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of consequences if a country caused trouble or raised tensions in the territories China claims as its own.

"If any country thinks that, through some gimmicks, they will be able to interfere with or even prevent China from engaging in reasonable, legitimate and legal activities in its own territories, I want to suggest those countries give up such fantasy," ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

"In fact, if relevant parties insist on creating tensions in the region and making trouble out of nothing, it may force China to draw the conclusion that we need to strengthen and hasten the buildup of our relevant capabilities. I advise the U.S. not to create such a self-fulfilling prophecy."

China on Tuesday accused the United States of committing a “deliberate provocation” by sending a Navy destroyer into waters claimed by Beijing, adding that such actions would force China to speed up its building program in the South China Sea.

“China will firmly react to this deliberate provocation,” Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a regularly scheduled news conference. He added, “China will not condone any action that undermines China’s security.”

The statements came hours after the Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of several artificial islands that China has built in the disputed Spratly Islands chain. The United States had signaled for weeks that it would undertake the mission, which it called an exercise of the right to freedom of navigation in international waters.

As Washington and its allies criticize Beijing for what they perceive to be aggressive actions in the South China Sea, the Chinese government has pointed out that it has demonstrated "great restraint," even as the Pentagon patrols its territorial waters.

The Obama administration has repeatedly criticized Beijing’s land reclamation efforts in the region, calling them a breach of international law. But on Tuesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin reiterated Beijing’s claim to the Spratly archipelago. He also added that Beijing has shown "great restraint" in allowing other countries to illegally occupy its territorial reefs in the region.

"The Chinese government has the right and the ability to recover the islands and reefs illegally occupied by neighboring countries," Liu said during a news conference, according to Reuters. "But we haven’t done this. We have maintained great restraint with the aim to preserve peace and stability in the South China Sea."

Beijing has shown great restraint in South China Sea, says Chinese envoy

China has shown “great restraint” in the South China Sea by not seizing islands occupied by other countries even though it could have, a senior Chinese diplomat said yesterday ahead of two regional summits where the disputed waterway is likely to be a hot topic.

Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a news conference in Beijing that China was the real victim as it had had “dozens” of its islands and reefs in the Spratlys illegally occupied by three of the claimants. He did not name the countries, but all claimants (Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan) except Brunei have military fortifications in the Spratlys.

“The Chinese government has the right and the ability to recover the islands and reefs illegally occupied by neighbouring countries,” Mr Liu said. “But we haven’t done this. We have maintained great restraint with the aim to preserve peace and stability in the South China Sea.”

China's demarcation of its expanded air defence identification zone overlaps with those of South Korea and Japan

Territorial disputes are escalating in East Asia with China stepping up its push for maritime interests despite strong protests from its neighbours and dampening the mood for regional cooperation for stability.China's demarcation last week of its expanded air defence identification zone overlapped with those of South Korea and Japan. The two countries berated Beijing for having drawn the zone without any consultation.Beijing's air demarcation comes as Tokyo and Washington have pushed for a stronger alliance amid the deepening Sino-Japanese conflict over a chain of islands in the East China Sea ― called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in Chinarelated:

read moreChina should be concerned about The Hague TribunalOn Oct. 29, in a unanimous decision, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague issued its first, preliminary ruling concerning whether the Tribunal had “jurisdiction” over the issues raised by the Philippines against China’s so-called “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea.The Tribunal held that in about half of the Philippines’ 15 claims, it did have jurisdiction. The other claims will be treated as jurisdictional questions fused with the merits of the case, and the Tribunal will be rendering a final award in 2016.The Tribunal’s preliminary award on jurisdiction and admissibility should prove to be a clear victory for international law, as well as a clear defeat for Chinese unilateralism.read more

China's Island Factory

In 1823, US President James Monroe outlined what was later to become known as the “Monroe Doctrine”.It identified the Western hemisphere as America’s backyard, and nowhere more so than the Caribbean Sea. Old European colonial powers were told to keep out.Today China is doing something very similar in the East and South China seas.readmoreThe Chinese Submarine Threat

What is the scale of the threat to U.S. supercarriers of China’s growing undersea capabilities?There has been extensive debate in recent years about modern Chinese anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems rendering the aircraft carriers of the United States Navy (USN) highly vulnerable if Beijing and Washington were to clash in the western Pacific. Particularly ominous is the growing undersea arm of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). According to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, China’s attack submarine fleet consists mainly of diesel-electric boats (SSKs) ­– there are 57 of them, as well as five nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs). Of these, the more modern ones include two Shang SSNs, 12 Kilo SSKs, and 12 Yuan SSKs.Experts often allude to the threat posed by SSKs to the U.S. flattop. This is because the SSK, which is quieter than its nuclear-powered counterpart, is seemingly often able to slip detection by the carrier’s escorts. There have been numerous instances of American carrier groups being surprised by SSKs, friendly or otherwise, during either training exercises or regular deployments. The most famous is arguably the 2006 incident of a Song surfacing at a distance within firing range of the Kitty Hawk battle group. Critics point out that if a relatively inferior sub like the Song was able to penetrate the carrier’s screen, a more capable one such as the Kilo would find the endeavor easier. And in a similar case in October this year, a Chinese boat reportedly “stalked” the Reagan carrier strike group (CSG), setting off alarm bells amongst U.S. defense officials. So the question is to what extent would PLAN submarines threaten U.S. carriers during a conflict? This questions has two parts: 1) assessing how likely it is that a Chinese boat would be able to locate and track the American capital ship, and, 2) if it is able to do so, the extent to which it damage or sink the flattop.

TOKYO -- Talks over China's island-building projects in the South China Sea at Sunday's East Asia Summit in Malaysia yielded no surprises. The U.S. and Japan expressed concerns about the new islands, and China defended their legitimacy.

Japan, the Philippines and Australia expect the U.S. to maintain a presence in the area and use its naval vessels and other military assets to counterbalance China's claims that its territorial waters extend throughout much of the South China Sea. The U.S., however, is caught in a dilemma. While it wants to quell China's unilateral attempt to change international order, it is reluctant to engage in an all-out battle with China.

There are three reasons:

The U.S. military is overstretched. It is engaged in the fight against the Islamic State group in the Middle East. It is also trying to prevent terrorist attacks at home and abroad. And the row with Russia over Ukraine continues.

U.S. military forces are weary. Many U.S. troops are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. The mental condition brings back vivid memories of combat, makes sleeping difficult and changes how sufferers react to those around them and to the outside world. It is incurable. This is apparently holding back U.S. President Barack Obama from sending ground troops to Syria.

Finances. The federal government is being forced to spread its dollars thin, and the defense budget is getting squeezed.

In September, Taiwan held military exercises in Hsinchu. Beijing said this week it opposes U.S. $1.83 billion arms sales to Taiwan as ‘an interference’ in China’s internal affairs. Photo: Wally Santana/Associated PressThe U.S. on Wednesday approved its first major sale of weapons to Taiwan in four years and shrugged off criticism that it had held up the proposed $1.83 billion deal to limit expected criticism from China.The State Department notified Congress of the long-discussed sale, which comes a month ahead of Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections and includes two decommissioned Navy frigates, air and ground missiles, amphibious vehicles and communications systems.The Obama administration has come under fire from some U.S. lawmakers over the length of time it has taken to clear the deals after legislation was passed to approve the sale of the frigates a year ago.

Japan is fortifying its far-flung island chain in the East China Sea under an evolving strategy that aims to turn the tables on China’s navy and keep it from ever dominating the Western Pacific Ocean, Japanese military and government sources said.

The United States, believing its Asian allies - and Japan in particular - must help contain growing Chinese military power, has pushed Japan to abandon its decades-old bare-bones home island defense in favor of exerting its military power in Asia.

Tokyo is responding by stringing a line of anti-ship, anti-aircraft missile batteries along 200 islands in the East China Sea stretching 1,400 km from the country’s mainland towards Taiwan.

An American B-52 bomber on a routine mission over the South China Sea unintentionally flew within two nautical miles of an artificial island built by China, senior defense officials said, exacerbating a hotly divisive issue for Washington and Beijing.

Pentagon officials told The Wall Street Journal they are investigating why one of two B-52s on the mission last week flew closer than planned to Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly Islands, an area where China and its neighbors have competing territorial claims. A senior U.S. defense official said that bad weather had contributed to the pilot flying off course and into the area claimed by China.

Beijing filed a formal diplomatic complaint with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which prompted the Pentagon to look into the matter.readmoreUS says bombers didn't intend to fly over China-held island

The United States said its two B-52 bombers had no intention of flying over a Chinese-controlled man-made island in the South China Sea, after Beijing accused Washington of "a serious military provocation" in the strategic waters with overlapping claims.

China's Defense Ministry on Saturday accused the U.S. of deliberately raising tensions in the region, where China has been aggressively asserting its claims to virtually all islands, reefs and their surrounding seas. It reiterated that it would do whatever is necessary to protect China's sovereignty.

Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said that the Dec. 10 mission was not a "freedom of navigation" operation and that there was "no intention of flying within 12 nautical miles of any feature," indicating the mission may have strayed off course.

China on Saturday urged the United States to stop provocative actions following the flight of two B-52 bombers over the area near China's Nansha islands.

"China takes the incident seriously and has lodged solemn representation with the United States," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said in a press release.

Two U.S. bombers flew into the airspace near an island and reef of the Nansha Islands early on Dec. 10. Pentagon said the flight might have strayed off course due to weather and an investigation had been launched.

China's Defense Ministry said Saturday that the U.S. committed "a serious military provocation" by recently flying two Air Force B-52 bombers over a Chinese-controlled man-made island in the South China Sea, a mission that the U.S. appeared to indicate had strayed off course.

The Defense Ministry accused the U.S. of deliberately raising tensions in the disputed region, where China has been aggressively asserting its claims to virtually all islands, reefs and their surrounding seas. It also reiterated that it would do whatever is necessary to protect China's sovereignty.

As is China's usual practice, the Foreign Ministry took a more diplomatic tone, saying the situation was stable.

US B-52s ‘stray’ over China-held isles, spark Beijing outrageIn this May 16, 2007 file photo, a B-52 passes overhead at the National Security Forum air demonstration at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. AP

The United States said its two B-52 bombers had no intention of flying over a Chinese-controlled man-made island in the South China Sea, after Beijing accused Washington of “a serious military provocation” in the strategic waters with overlapping claims.

China’s Defense Ministry accused the U.S. of deliberately raising tensions in the region, where China has been aggressively asserting its claims to virtually all islands, reefs and their surrounding seas. It reiterated that it would do whatever is necessary to protect China’s sovereignty.

Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said that the Dec. 10 mission was not a “freedom of navigation” operation and that there was “no intention of flying within 12 nautical miles of any feature,” indicating the mission may have strayed off course.

The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy regarding domination of the American continent in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention. At the same time, the doctrine noted that the United States would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. The Doctrine was issued in 1823 at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Spain and Portugal had achieved or were at the point of gaining independence from the Portuguese and Spanish Empires. The United States, working in agreement with Great Britain, wanted to guarantee that no European power would move in.

President James Monroe first stated the doctrine during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress. The term "Monroe Doctrine" itself was coined in 1850. By the end of the nineteenth century, Monroe's declaration was seen as a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States and one of its longest-standing tenets. It would be invoked by many U.S. statesmen and several U.S. presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and many others.

The intent and impact of the Monroe Doctrine persisted with only minor variations for more than a century. Its alleged objective was to free the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention and avoid situations which could make the New World a battleground for the Old World powers, so that the United States could exert its own influence undisturbed. The doctrine asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, for they were composed of entirely separate and independent nations.

At the time of the creation of the Monroe Doctrine, the United States was a young nation determined to keep the Western hemisphere free of foreign influence. This was mainly targeting Europe, specifically Spain. Spain had many colonies in Latin America. However, these former colonies were now independent nations. To stop other European powers from colonizing, the Monroe Doctrine was formed to restrict the spheres of influence formed in the areas which were so close to the U.S. The doctrine also emphasized the traditional isolationist policies modeled after Washington’s Farewell Address.

This document was created as a policy of isolationism. The U.S. prohibited any European involvement in Latin American affairs, including the establishment of new colonies. In turn, the United States agreed to not get occupied in European dealings. President James Monroe (1817-1825) enacted this doctrine on December 2, 1823, after the former Spanish colonies in Latin America gained their independence from Spain.

There was definitely some controversy regarding the Monroe Doctrine. The nations of Europe did not feel this doctrine was appropriate since it limited their spheres of influence which, in the age of imperialism, stopped their newly expanding, wealthy empires. However, due to the United States’ amateur navy, the doctrine was disregarded at first.

Territorial Disputes: Malignant and BenignSome things are worth fighting for. What about a few desert islands occupied mainly by birds, goats and moles? China and Japan seem to think so, the rest of the world is alarmed and a look at other territorial disputes around the globe shows that stranger things have happened. There are about 60 such conflicts simmering worldwide. Most will bubble along, unresolved but harmless, 400 years after the Peace of Westphalia established the notion of national sovereignty. Others are more dangerous.

The Situation - China claims more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, where it has constructed artificial islands and built up its military presence. Five others — Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan — claim parts of the same maritime area, a thriving fishing zone through which more than $5 trillion of trade passes each year. In a case brought by the Philippines, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled against China in July, saying it had no historic rights to the resources within a dashed line drawn on a 1940s map that had formed the basis of its claims. While the court said the ruling was binding, China said the tribunal has no jurisdiction. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called for restraint and in October held talks with China on contested territory.

The U.S., the longtime guarantor of freedom of navigation in the waters, has stepped up support for Southeast Asian maritime law enforcement agencies and Indonesia has accused Chinese fishing boats of increasingly encroaching into its waters. One thousand miles to the northeast, in the East China Sea, China is in dispute with Japan over century-old claims to a separate set of islands — called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese — that have been administered by Japan since 1972. U.S. President Barack Obama in 2014 said a U.S.-Japan security treaty applies to the islands, meaning the U.S. military could act if Japanese waters were violated. Meantime, Donald Trump's election as U.S. president adds a new element of uncertainty. Trump has accused the Chinese of building a military fortress in the South China Sea and of doing so “at will because they have no respect for our president and they have no respect for our country.” China is also locked in a disagreement with India over the two countries’ land border.